A place to share our latest 4H experiences in order to promote and energize the experience for my family and yours.

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Sunday, March 3, 2013

Youth Fair 2013

Spent the week at youth fair. We took it slow this year and only spent one day at the fair because of other family commitments.

The day before (late into the night) the cookie show at the fair, our boys were busy in the kitchen. Sean chose to showcase our own honey with Honey Cookies. He actually tried several recipes before going back to his original recipe! He stayed positive through the time and the cookies did not go to waste. Even those that were not so good were crumbled into a new flour mix to make a coffee cake fro breakfast! I hate to see a cookie (even a bad one) go to waste!

Edward chose a technically challenging recipe for his age. As he told me, "This is not your drop and bake cookie recipe!" He made Checkerboard Cookies, and he had to make two dough mixes and form strips that were put together with 'milk glue' to create the desired look. There were several steps to his cookie and he had a lot of wait time in between steps. He spent most of the day in the kitchen, but had a lot of fun. However, I think he might go back to drop cookies next year! LOL!

Edward did learn an important lesson in cookie baking (actually in cookie mixing). He put the dry ingredients together and then added the wet ingredients. He quickly learned this makes a crumbly mess! However, little Brendan took advantage of the situation to make his own creation. He was able to make a big sheet cookie with chocolate chips sprinkled over the top. Bad part for Mom...he then thought he was showing cookies at the fair! Oh...I spent most of the day trying to explain that he would not be old enough until NEXT year!!! He thought I meant next time we went to the fair and was so upset when her forgot his cookie! So cute and so ready to be BIG! Proud of him for spending good time in the kitchen with his brothers!

Henry waited patiently throughout the day...watching his other brothers bake. He waited until they were all in bed and came out to make his Wooden Spoon Cookies. He wanted the cookies to be as fresh as possible and he needed the kitchen to be clear of everyone else so he could concentrate. He had to bake a thin layer of cookie on a pan and then take them out and roll the cookie while it was still hot onto a wooden spoon. He actually learned after several attempts to give the cookies about 30 seconds of cool time before rolling made a nicer cookie, but even with that cool time his fingers were burnt by the time he had his dozen cookies for show! He persevered and got the cookies done at midnight! Worn out he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow!

While the boys were showing their cookies, I had the opportunity to sit with some of the other 4H moms. We talked about our commitment to the program and how much work was put in behind the scenes. It is all worth it to see the 4Hers succeed.

I learned a lot about livestock. I know it is a great program for the youth who are interested, but I am so glad our boys are NOT interested in this aspect of 4H. It takes a lot of work and time, but most of all those large animals would scare me to death. The stories told about training the bulls to 'behave' for show....no thank you! LOL! Our children chose well...sticking with showing food and art is a much tamer prospect!

Henry also turned in a photo of a pumpkin patch he took last fall. It was a good picture but was very grainy when it was blown up into an 8x10. Maybe he can try a story board arrangement next year.

I wish I could have been there for all of our youth, but here are a few pictures from our time at the fair.

Congratulations to the following for their achievements at the Youth Fair!

Kaleigh - 2nd place - cookies (with our other 4H friend, Erin, who had Best of Show cookies!)

So proud of all our talented group of 4Hers! They did a great job! I look forward to adding the others who completed projects at the fair! I am sure I am missing some of the other talented work from our youth!